About Us
The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning serves as a catalyst for effective teaching and engaged learning at Elon University. Learn more about CATL’s Mission & Values or our last Strategic Plan, 2016-2021. We are in the process of updating our next Strategic Plan, so stay tuned!
Center Faculty and Staff
| Sarah Bunnell | Director | sbunnell@elon.edu |
Dr. Sarah Bunnell is the Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and an Associate Professor of Psychology. She is past-president of the International Society of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, an ISSOTL Distinguished Service Award winner, and was recently selected as a Gardner Institute Russell Edgerton Innovation Fellow, which “recognizes distinctively innovative contributions to improving postsecondary education and student success.” A co-author of Being Human in STEM (2023, Routledge), Sarah is passionate about building student-faculty-staff partnerships to enhance teaching, learning, and thriving across educational spaces. Her research merges her disciplinary training in developmental and cognitive psychology with her 20 years of work in faculty development and SoTL. Please reach out to Sarah to explore ways that CATL can support your individual, departmental, and institutional teaching and learning efforts.
| Olivia Choplin | Associate Director | (336) 278-5815 | ochoplin@elon.edu |
Dr. Olivia Choplin was the 2023-24 Interim Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and an Associate Professor of French in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. Her disciplinary research has focused on contemporary French and Francophone theater and Haitian diaspora literature, particularly in Québec. She is happy to discuss and troubleshoot all sorts of teaching questions related to the design and assessment of courses and assignments. Her own particular SoTL interests include intercultural development and student reintegration to campus after study abroad, “ungrading,” and “students as partners” work for intentional course and assignment design.
| Vanessa Drew-Branch | CATL Pedagogy Fellow | (336) 278 -6368 | vdrewbranch@elon.edu |
Dr. Vanessa Drew-Branch was an interim Associate Director in 2023-24 and an Associate Professor of Human Services Studies and African and African American Studies, and an affiliated faculty for the Poverty and Social Justice Studies program. Dr. Drew-Branch was named as the inaugural CATL Pedagogy Fellow in 2022. Vanessa regularly incorporates a variety of innovative, inclusive, and equity-minded teaching and learning strategies into her courses, including culturally responsive teaching, alternative modes of assessing knowledge, and community engaged courses. A common theme in Dr. Drew-Branch’s teaching, scholarship and professional activity is supporting equity for historically marginalized groups. She has been teaching college-level DEI courses since 2007 and has created and facilitated DEI sessions for educators, private sector companies, and community members. Her teaching areas include mental health assessment, advocacy practice, human diversity, and social work practice skills.
| Jill McSweeney | Assistant Director | (336) 278-5765 | jmcsweeney@elon.edu |
Dr. Jill McSweeney is an Assistant Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and an Assistant Professor of Wellness. She has been working in the area of faculty development for almost a decade, actively publishes in the area of SoTL, the scholarship of educational development, and is a two-time recipient of the Explorance Faculty Research Grant for her work on the ethical use of course evaluation data for research purposes. Jill is a former Executive of SoTL Canada (2019 – 2022) and co-chair of the Ethical Practices of Educational Development (2015 – 2019), a special interest group of the Educational Developers Caucus of Canada. While she has interests in learning spaces and their impact on student and faculty experience, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusive spaces, and the philosophical underpinnings of SoTL, she is happy to have a conversation about all things teaching and learning related.
| Jen Uno | Associate Director | (336) 278-6327 | juno@elon.edu |
Dr. Jen Uno is an Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and an Associate Professor of Biology. Dr. Uno’s disciplinary research focuses on the interactions between the immune cells and the microbes that reside in the intestine. She is an active mentor, having formally mentored over 23 Elon undergraduate students through independent research projects, including 5 successful Lumen applications and multiple honors projects. The 2016 recipient of the Elon College of Arts and Science Excellence in Teaching Award, Dr. Uno has actively pursued professional development and grant funding to support her teaching and SOTL work, including participating in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) funded, multi-year, multi-institutional grant focused on inclusive teaching in STEM, and being selected as a CATL Scholar for a project adding service-learning component to a human physiology course (2015-2017).
| Donna Camp | Program Coordinator | (336) 278-5100 | CATL@elon.edu |
Donna Camp is the Program Coordinator for the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and the Center for Engaged Learning. Donna has over 25 years of professional experience in the non-profit sector with various community service organizations for clients of all ages and need levels and is specialized in the areas of program development and implementation. She received her B.A. in Human Services from UNC at Charlotte, her M.Ed. from UNC at Greensboro in Guidance and Counseling with a concentration in Student Development in Higher Education, and a Certificate of Non-Profit Management from Duke University. Donna is currently on the Board of Directors for the Greensboro Symphony Guild and has served on the NC State Association of Volunteer Administration Board in various capacities, the Forsyth County Mental Health Advisory Board and the Forsyth County United Way Volunteer Cabinet. Donna grew up in the Elon community and is thrilled to be a part of Elon University.
CATL / CEL Students |
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| Elizabeth Shum (’27) Shreveport, LouisianaMajor: Accounting & Finance Minor: Economics |
Emily Lesniak (’25) Charlotte, NCMajor: Business Marketing Minors: Economics & Sustainable Enterprises |
| I am part of the 3+1 Accelerated Path Program on a CPA track to earn an MSA by my fourth year. I am an Odyssey Scholar and First-Generation Student. On campus, I serve as the sophomore class treasurer and internally as the parliamentarian for Student Government Association. I am involved in Greek life (Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority, Incorporated), student leadership, and civic engagement initiatives on campus. I hope to start research in behavioral economics during my time at Elon. After college, I would like to work on the federal side of accounting and or finance. | I am a Charlotte, NC native and love anything and everything outdoors! I love to mountain bike, water ski, hike, and read a good book by the pool. I am a business fellow on campus, and have studied abroad in Paris, Dubai and around Italy! Post-grad I hope to work in renewable energy marketing. |
See a list of previous CATL Directors & Associate Directors.
The CATL Faculty Advisory Board provides insight and guidance regarding mission, programs and services.
Location
The Center is located on the Elon University main campus in the William Henry Belk Pavilion near the corner of Haggard Avenue and N. Antioch Avenue in the Academic Village.
The campus map provides easy directions.
Mailing Address:
2610 Campus Box
Elon University
Elon, NC 27244
Phone: 336-278-5100
Fax: 336-278-5108